The Quest for Water

A picture is worth a thousand words, a seen above. Dry conditions in the southeast in 2007 brought much dismay for the whitewater kayakers of the region. In order to fulfill the need for water many members of Team Swain set out in many different directions in search of the mythical water. The idea was to find the source of the water and use trickery, sorcery, and determination to return the water to the rivers of one of the country's best whitewater meccas. The road was not always easy and there was plenty of adventure and misadventure along the way but the members of Team Swain prevailed in the end.

one of the members of the team
searches to the bottom of a watermelon.

In the beginning of the journey we were not sure where to begin the quest. Any possible risk, advice, or lead that might get us closer to the water was followed sometimes it got us nowhere. Kara and I were told of an Oracle who lived on the far side of Fontana lake so we decided to go in search of said Oracle in order to ask him where we should begin our search.

Here is a picture of me with our friends who agreed
to show us to the Oracle.

Unfortunatley, due to the extreme heat and dry weather the Oracle had fallen victim to a heat stroke and was too parched to impart any wisdom of where to find the water.


Here Kara is pictured with the parched Oracle

So after many weeks and no luck we decided we must hit the road. We decided first to head toward the western US to see if we could find any water there.





We were quickly dissapointed upon arriving in the west, when we found out that in this particular region they spend a majority of their year without water . Since we were there we decided to take advantage of a phenomenon they know as "snowmelt". It was because of this strange event that the rivers there were flowing rather well .


In this picture I massage Joe's head while he looks to the clouds.

In looking at the clouds Joe saw a vision and that night we were visited by a strange creature that told us of a great wizard who lived near by so the next day we set out to find the great wizard.

Here is a picture of the creature



Scout is pictured with the great wizard

As it turns out the wizard was no help at all, he told us that his powers were outdated and no longer in style. Feeling defeated, tired, and out of options we decided to return home. As winter grew closer and the drought continued we knew we must journey out once again to find water. Setting our sights a little higher this time we decided to head south, to the next continent.

Upon arrival we thought we had made a huge mistake. Conditions were equally as bad there and there seemed to be no hope.



Here Kara and Samantha run some rapids in Northern Patagonia



Then one day it happened while stopped along the side of the river waiting for some friends to run a rapid. A small elf appeared he told us of a place where water was so bountiful that everyone could have more than their share. He made us a map with his small elvish hands and off he went.
Here is a picture of the eddy elf he sure was a happy fellow

After many months of searching tirelessly we found the source of the water. We took as much as we could carry and returned to the southeast US. So for now we have a small reprieve from the drought.





Here is where we foun the water